Knots
by Suna-Scribbles
Summary: Everything is tied together, though most of the time the threads and ropes and chains are invisible.  Even wars and wingless dragons have a connection of sorts.
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note:

It's been such a long time since I've written fanfiction. Last time... I think it was Freshman year of High School, and here I am now, a college student who doesn't have near enough time on her hands to actually sit and spill her ideas onto the internet. But I want to try, so here's my idea for a How To Train Your Dragon fic. All characters that appear in HTTYD belong to Dreamworks, and everything else is mine.

Let's give this a spin.

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"'Old 'er down. Make 'er watch."

Vera screamed, throwing herself hard towards he village chief, Traver, but other vikings were holding her arms and she got nowhere. Despite a life a training, seventeen years wasn't long enough to grow stronger than the two men that held her. Nor were her words enough to get them to let her go. She had thus resorted to animal sounds. And with her brown hair knotted and mud-soaked, and her eyes wide with fear and anger she looked more animal than human.

Directly in her line of sight a yearling dragon squirmed, held fast to the floor of the dragon ring by chains and leather and a wooden block around it's neck. It was a Nightfury, and with glowing eyes it watched Vera pleadingly. It made small sounds not unlike whimpers, tiny keening sobs. Traver strode towards it, a battle-dulled knife in his hand. He wasn't even going to take the time to sharpen the blade.

"It's ah girl, so Vera says." He mumbled to the crowd that was slowly growing. He ran his fingers over the white spines that protruded from the dragon's back. "Ah Nightfury too... never seen ah young one, let 'lon one with white un it." He raised the knife, making the yearling buck backwards, attempting to escape.

"Don't hurt her!" Vera screamed, desperately trying to pull free. "Please, Traver- Moria's young, she can be trained. We can use her to keep the other dragons away!"

Traver scoffed, and when he turned his head to look at her Vera could see the scars on his neck spelling out his answer. "Their kind can't be trusted." He pressed the tip of the knife against where the wing membrane met Moria's back, enough pressure to pierce the delicate skin. With a grunt he slashed the knife along the seam where back met wing.

The Dragon shrieked. Vera wailed. The crowd cheered.

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Updates are going to take a while probably. I don't have a ton of inspiration for this fic, and really no plot in my head yet. Comment to let me know what you think so far.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Oh look, an update. Sudden inspiration hit me while I was in my Criminology class. **

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Rolf dumped the torch he held into the river flowing through the middle of the village then dashed towards the high cliffs that rose over the Ring. For now everyone was asleep, but that would not be the case for much longer. So he sprinted, moving the way he did when chasing a wounded deer.

The big iron doors were closed, but only locked with a bolt on the outside. He slid it back then rushed to the only alcove with a closed door. The celebration the week before had emptied the tribe of their store of captive dragons. Rolf fumbled momentarily with the heavy exterior lock, but finally managed it open after a few critical seconds. The doors swung open with their own weight, letting moonlight work its way inside to light the shuddering forms of Vera and Moria within.

Rolf cursed- a rarity for him.

Both were covered in blood. Moria- poor, now-wingless Moria- was just barely bandaged with what appeared to have once been Vera's long shirt. And while Vera looked uninjured she was almost as much an animal as Moria, with her brown hair slick at the ends with blood and her body only clothed in pants and her chest wrappings and her eyes wide and fearful. Moria made a sound of agony and Vera turned to her, making little shushing noises and stroking the dragon's head.

"Look what they did to her, Rolf." Vera whispered, laying her bloodied cheek against Moria's heaving side. "How could we let this happen?"

Rolf made a sound like a growl and grabbed Vera by the arm and dragged her out, making sure that Moria followed. "We can't make it un-happen, Vera!" He wanted to shout, but settled with a harsh whisper. "We can't make it better. But we can do something. I _have _done something. I'm getting you out. Off the island."

Vera stopped suddenly, managing to bring Rolf to a halt. "What did you-" Her voice cut off sharply when she caught sight of the burning village back-lighting her friend- her best friend and arranged husband, the young man who had said he would do anything for her. "You set the village on fire."

"I did. I also got our boat loaded with supplies. They'll all be too busy to even look at the docks. Gunther is there. Vera, we have to hurry- they'll have the fire out soon." Rolf looked her square in the face. "Once you're on the boat I'll try to keep them busy, cover for you. If we are lucky they wont notice you are gone until morning."

He wasn't coming with her. Vera glanced back at Moria, as if looking for answers. The dragon was watching the pair with ever-trusting eyes, utterly silent except for her labored breathing.

"Alright."

The three moved quickly down the narrow trail cut into the cliff-side that overlooked the docks. Moria moved quickly and did not complain, knowing that speed was of the essence. Rolf kept an eye on both the injured dragon and his friend, but he found his worry for Vera growing more and more. She moved as if in a dream, like she believed she would be waking up soon. It was horribly troubling. Luckily he didn't have long to think about it.

The dock creaked below them as they made their way to the end where the small boat was tied. A black shadow moved across the deck as they neared and then Gunther was before them.

The dragon growled and slunk past Vera and Rolf, ignoring the humans as he went to inspect his sister. He was bigger that Moria, broader in chest and taller, and where Moria was black and white Gunther was all black with a gray underside. Moria trilled tiredly in greeting as Gunther sniffed at her missing wings, his lips draw back to show teeth and his pupils slits in his yellow-green eyes.

"Gunther." Rolf hissed and the male dragon looked up. "We have no time. Get on the boat. Vera is taking you away." He had the line holding the boat to the dock untied and in his hands and Vera was already sitting at the oars. A sail would be too likely to catch attention, but there was one stored on board.

Gunther hissed and flattened his ears, looking up the cliff towards the burning village, but Moria, tired and hurt, shoved him with her head before stepping into the boat and disappearing into the tiny cabin near the bow. Gunther huffed but followed reluctantly, curling himself at Vera's feet in the stern of the boat. Rolf threw the line on board and gave the side of the boat a shove with his foot.

"Good luck." He whispered, hoping he hadn't just sent his friends to a death by starvation and exposure. He kept eye contact with Vera as she rowed away with the current until he couldn't decipher the boat from the darkness.

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**A/N: I don't like purely OC fics, so we'll be getting to Berk soon. Don't worry. **


	3. Chapter 3

She had never been sun-burnt this badly before in her life. She had also never been this hungry or this thirsty before. And she had never been any _less interested_ in, well, everything before. Something in the back of her mind said that this was disconcerting, but Vera could hardly bring herself to care. She lazily watched as Gunther flew overhead, a rope harness tethering him to the boat stretched taut. His wingbeats were strong but it could be seen that he was was struggling to pull the vessel forward through the water. Their mainsail had been tattered in a storm a week- a month, maybe? Vera had stopped counting days- ago but had been salvaged into a second life as bandages for Moria's back. Vera sighed and closed her eyes. She knew she should be alarmed by her labored breathing and the pain in her body.

How long had they been out here?

Long enough for Moria to fully heal, though her scars were still fresh and pink. Long enough for them all to go so thin that each and every one of their ribs was visible. Long enough to have run out of supplies long ago, even with careful rationing.

The boat rocked as Gunther landed. He keened worriedly and pressed his head into Vera's chest. From within the cabin Moria warbled a questioning sound before moving, causing the boat to roll from side to side in the water. Vera opened her eyes as Gunther nosed her face. The young dragon danced happily in place before leaping to the bow of the boat and throwing himself into the air to fly a tight circle. It was then that Vera noticed what he was trying to show her. On the horizon was a dot of an island. Close, so close. But not close enough. Right on the heels of her barely-there elation was the sickening understanding that she wasn't going to make it. Her body was just giving up and salvation had presented itself too little too late. She closed her eyes again.

The boat shook and suddenly there was a dragon on either side of her, both nudging and worried. Babies watching as their mother slowly died. Without looking Vera took the line connecting Gunther to the boat, holding it stretched between her two hands. The dragon keened warily then with a mighty snap of his jaws severed the rope. He lingered for a moment then leaped into the air, winging towards the island. Moria warbled again and curled close to Vera, her head in the girl's lap.

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It was only a couple of weeks after Snoggletog. The baby dragons were starting to fly and had already almost doubled in size. Although Toothless and Hiccup enjoyed the newborns Berk was busy trying to take care of them.

And Hiccup, accustomed to being useless, was much more prone to leaving the island than actually helping.

On their afternoon flights the pair would usually just cruse, enjoying the rare currents of warm air and a more leisurely pace. Hiccup was barely paying attention when Toothless suddenly spun to the side to avoid a blur of scales that had thrown itself at them. Both dragon and rider yelped in surprise and Hiccup raised a hand to hold tight to his helmet.

The strange dragon was moving fast and erratically, and for a moment Hiccup thought it was one of the hatchings. But then it stopped, hovering with strong strokes of wings almost too big in comparison to the body and the boy realised what it was. Another Nightfury. He felt Toothless' confusion and reached forward to rub his friend's neck. "Easy bud."

The other Nightfury made a high-pitched sound then dove down towards the water, veering towards the North, the tail end of a rope trailing behind him. When Hiccup and Toothless didn't immediately follow it spiraled back up, this time letting out a frustrated roar before diving again.

Hiccup leaned forward in the saddle as Toothless angled down towards the water. "Let's see where he's taking us."

It didn't take long- Nightfury's move _fast_- but when Hiccup looked back the island of Berk was only a tiny dot on the horizon. The other dragon had bought them to a boat and came down on it all four feet at once in a hasty landing. As he and Toothless spiraled down in a more controlled manner Hiccup noticed _another_ Nightfury, and between the two dragons was something else.

"By the Gods..."

It was a girl.

Toothless dropped into the water, too big for the boat, and Hiccup jumped off of his back and into the cockpit of the vessel where the two strange Nightfury's were curled around the unconscious girl. He knelt down, shoving his way between the two fire-breathers, and gave the girl a shake. She moaned and underneath her eyelids there was movement.

"Oh man, oh man. She's alive. Oh-" Hiccup turned around, eyes searching. The two young dragon's stared back at him, wary but otherwise trusting of him. "We can fly out of here and get to Berk, get help there-" he stopped suddenly, a strangled sound coming from his throat.

At the word 'fly' the first Nightfury- the one with the gray belly and stripes at the base of his tail- had spread his wings, casting them all into shadow. The movement had drawn Hiccup's attention to the other dragon and the impossibility in his words. Because the smaller dragon, so strange with her white spike running down the length of her spine, _had no wings_. In their place were two scars, still fresh and pink. This was sure to make things a little bit more difficult.

But if Hiccup was anything he was innovative and a quick thinker. Within moments he knew that Toothless and the still intact Nightfury youngling could not carry the boat by themselves. There was only one other option. Hiccup cast his gaze about and found the severed end of the rope that was still attached to the boat and snatched it up, tiying it again to the first dragon's make-shift harness. "Keep flying towards the island." He told the dragon before he maneuvered the girl into his arms. He somehow got her out of the boat and onto Toothless' back without dropping her and then positioned himself back in the saddle with her in front of him. He put an arm around her chest, wincing as he felt his forearm press against her ribs, sharp under her skin, then held tight to Toothless' harness.

"We'll be back. Don't worry."

With a mighty flap of his wings Toothless was airborne again. They hovered for a moment over the boat, watching as the two dragon's warbled and cried, then turned about and shot straight for Berk.

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**A/N: Late update is late. Sorry.**


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